Zurich-based Pregnolia, which is developing a diagnostic device that measures cervical stiffness to improve preterm birth prediction, has secured CHF 3.4 million (approximately $4.4 million) in financing from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator and private investors.
The EIC Accelerator is one of Europe’s most competitive deep-tech funding programs, and the selection recognizes cervical stiffness as a novel biomarker for obstetric care. The funding follows three recent peer-reviewed publications in leading journals demonstrating the clinical potential of the approach.
Pregnolia’s thesis – that cervical stiffness is a more reliable predictor of preterm birth risk than current standard methods – has been central to the company since its founding. CEO Sabrina Badir has argued that a soft cervix correlates with premature birth far more reliably than established diagnostic approaches, a claim now supported by a growing body of published clinical evidence.
Preterm birth remains one of the most persistent challenges in obstetrics. One in ten children worldwide is born prematurely, and as the WHO has noted, progress in reducing preterm birth rates has been limited in part because current predictive methods are imprecise and unreliable.
The new financing follows a CHF 2.2 million round Pregnolia closed in 2023, which supported clinical studies across several European countries and early work on an FDA approval strategy for the U.S. market. The latest capital will be used to further validate the clinical findings and translate cervical stiffness assessment into routine clinical practice.
